


let me know

by enjolrolo



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Anxiety, M/M, Recovery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-14
Updated: 2016-11-14
Packaged: 2018-08-30 23:39:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 430
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8554216
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enjolrolo/pseuds/enjolrolo
Summary: Recovery is by no means linear.





	

**Author's Note:**

> small trigger warning for mention of self-destructive behaviors

 

Most of it’s been subtle, not anything that Bitty would have noticed if he’d been anyone else, but he’s noticed. Jack’s sentences are just this side of clipped, his appetite isn’t quite normal, he’s sleeping fitfully and waking up before his alarm. 

There’s also the things that aren’t so subtle--such as the fact that Jack had two panic attacks this week, and Jack’s blaming himself for it, beating himself up over things that don’t matter and not letting himself enjoy what he loves to do. He comes home from practice completely drained, even though he always has sort of a smile for Bitty.

And Bitty wakes up in the middle of the night once to hear Jack muffling sobs with his pillow. Which is not alright, but Bitty can’t do much more than cuddle up a little closer and wait for the tears to subside. When asked in the morning, Jack shrugs and doesn’t give a good answer.

Any “are you doing okay?” questions get the same “Just tired” answer, and Bitty doesn’t know what to do. 

He calls Alicia. “Jack’s having a hard time,” he says.

Alicia makes a sound of sad understanding. “I’ll talk to him.”

Later, Bitty hears Jack talking on the phone. He doesn’t want to eavesdrop, and his Quebecois isn’t good enough for that anyway, but he does hear enough to know that Jack is worse off than he thought.

“Maman thinks I should go see Therese again,” Jack says later, when Bitty had thought he had already fallen asleep.

“Therese?”

“My therapist, from before.” Jack doesn’t need to explain that  _ before  _ means before the overdose, the draft, Jack’s life crashing down around his ears. “You didn’t need to call her.”

Bitty had needed to call Alicia, because even if it meant Jack would be angry for thinking that Bitty considered him unable to care for himself, Jack needs help. 

This idea is only reinforced the next day, when Jack takes a half-hour-long shower and leaves it with puffy red eyes and no smile in sight.

“Sweetheart,” Bitty says later, as Jack’s mechanically making tea for himself and being painfully silent. “I love you, alright?”

Jack nods, looks like he’s about to cry again. “I love you too, Bits.”

“You’d tell me if you were thinking about hurting yourself?”

“I’m going to see Therese this afternoon,” Jack says in lieu of answering. It makes Bitty’s heart come up in his throat, because Jack had been doing so  _ well  _ before this week, but he just nods and swallows. 

“Let me know what I can do.”


End file.
